This invention relates to a quick release mechanism for use on foldable legs attached to supporting structures for signs, barriers, and the like.
Portable stands, for example, for use in temporarily supporting an outdoor sign for conveying a message to passing motorists are well known in the art. It is known to be advantageous for such support stands to be readily assembled and disassembled with very little effort on the part of the worker responsible for erecting and taking down the sign. Often, such support stands comprise a base from which the mast to which the sign is attached extends upwardly. A plurality of legs, usually four, are pivotally attached to the base. The legs are each designed to pivot from a folded, upright position for compact storage and easy transportability to an extended deployed position for supporting the sign. In both the folded and the extended positions each leg is fixedly attached to the base to prevent undesired pivoting. One such very successful portable sign stand, having a quick release mechanism for releasing one leg at a time, for deploying the sign stand, is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,509, herein expressly incorporated by reference, in its entirety.
It would be desirable, however, to have incorporated into such a sign stand a quick-release mechanism which would simultaneously deploy all four sign stand support legs, for immediate deployment of the sign stand with a minimum of labor. Such a mechanism would also expedite the folding and stowing of such a sign stand when the job is done.